Package Deal — Two Salukis team up to bring the world a taste of southern Illinois
Salukis in Business
Tom Meyer’s (’80) SIU Agricultural Sciences degree ensured his familiarity with the crops lining the roadways along the multi-state route he travels in his sales role for Shillington Box, and the farms and farmers that grow them. Sometimes, those farmers turn out to be fellow alumni, like Wayne (’89) and Michelle Sirles (‘89), and a business relationship is the result of that connection.
The Sirles own Rendleman Orchards in Cobden, IL, a commercial, five-generation century farm in Cobden, IL, that provides fruits and vegetables to commercial produce markets throughout the Midwest.
When the Sirles decided to enter the high-end gift box market, they needed specialty packaging to ensure their beautiful produce would arrive to the customer in just-picked condition and they turned to Meyer for help.
Meyer spent his “first” career as a retail business manager for Campbells soup before joining Shillington Box as an account manager in 2012.
“I’m outside sales, so my job is to bring in new business, keep existing business and continue to grow new business relationships. To do that, I spend a lot of time driving- my footprint is Columbia, MO, and southern Illinois including Effingham and as far north as Peoria,” Meyer said.
Meyer said that while out on his route on of his favorite stops was the Rendleman Orchards’ farm store.
“They have such a beautiful place that is was always a pleasure to stop by and catch up with what they were doing. Both our companies thrive on providing innovation in traditional markets, so creating specialty packaging for their product was a natural fit for us at Shillington,” Meyer said.
Like Rendleman Orchards, Shillington Box is a centennial business — they have provided quality shipping and packaging products since 1906 and currently operate a 52,000 sq. ft. manufacturing facility and 85,000 sq. ft. finished goods warehouse in St. Louis, Missouri.
“Shipping very delicate and perishable fruit across the U.S. direct to consumer is something we were ready to take on and were fortunate to find a partner to help us reach this new goal. Tom Meyer made the process not only easy, but exciting,” Michelle Sirles said.
Part of that excitement came from their alumni relationship, Meyer said. While they did not know each other while on campus, the fact that Tom and Wayne were both Ag majors meant they had a lot in common.
“Our Saluki connection allowed for a familiar, warm environment that really felt more like a family relationship than anything else. We were able to catch up about our kids, and talk about all the news on campus,” Meyer said.
As a result of that connection the Sirles expanded their relationship with Shillington as well.
“We also had Tom create our three-jar trio gift box complete with custom, protective shipping sleeve. Both new shipping box solutions will help us elevate our brand, reach new customers, create new revenue for our multi-generational family operation,” Michelle Sirles said.
Like their parent company, TRG, Shillington is also committed to eco-friendly friendly packaging and shipping supplies production methodologies, and are a B2B source for green sustainable packaging for all business requirements, so the next generations of Salukis is on their mind.
“I had such a great experience at SIU. Before attending I spent some time working for a horse farmer to earn funds for school — I helped him with maintenance and care of the animals and developed a little bit of an attachment to the rural lifestyle. So SIU was the perfect fit for me,” Meyer said.
Meyer says he found most of his campus connection through the leadership fraternity Alpha Gamma Rho. SIU’s Beta Alpha Chapter was established in 1970 from the Little Egyptian Agricultural Association, and Meyer is currently a Board Member and Scholarship Committee Chairman.
“Those guys got me through all of my undergrad years and quite a bit of my life, “Meyer laughed.
“Being a Saluki is truly the tie that binds,” he continued. “I helped put together Beta Alpha’s Anniversary celebration in February of this year and was able to connect to a whole new generation of Salukis. I also ran into Wayne (Sirles) at an event honoring another Saluki, so as the saying goes “Salukis are everywhere,” Meyer said.
Tom and his wife, Teresa recently celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary. They have three adult daughters, Laura, Allison, and Stephanie.
For more information about Shillington Box or Rendleman Orchards please click on the provided links.
Excerpt from this article were published in the Summer 2020 edition of the SIU Alumni Magazine. For information about becoming a member, please visit www.siualumni.com.
